All posts tagged whom

● Because the price tag on the federal economic-stimulus package is a moving target, we should use a dollar figure only when it is specifically relevant to the subject matter in a given article, Matthew Rose in Washington advises. One example would be when we need to present one element—tax cuts, say—as a proportion of the estimated total.

Early on, we used the original price tag as a modifier, as in “the $787 billion stimulus act.” But the cost has risen considerably since then, as food stamps and other provisions were used more than expected. The Congressional Budget Office’s latest estimate of the total cost is $814 billion.

● In our coverage of political campaigns, we want to rein in the use of professors’ comments about candidates and races. Deputy ME Matt Murray observes, “We have a pattern: A reporter drops in, looks at a race, and calls up a local political-science professor to obtain a canned quote on the race.” A little of that is fine on occasion, he says, but we don’t want to overdo it. “Generally, in most cases, we’re more interested in players and actors than experts,” he says. Read More »

Last time around, we noted that in hospital and at university are Briticisms that ring discordantly on the American ear, so we in the U.S. usually say “in the hospital” and “at college” when referring to the general concept rather than a specific institution.

David E. Gold, a California venture capitalist who says he is also a “very picky reader,” notes that “on holiday” is a similar aberration not commonly used in American English. He cites this from the Journal: … Read More »